Office Depot Refuses to Print Prayer: Calls it ‘Hate Material’

SCHAUMBURG, Ill. (CBSLA.com/AP) — A suburban Chicago woman is accusing Office Depot of religious discrimination, saying employees told her that making copies of an anti-abortion prayer violated company policy.

Last month, Maria Goldstein, a Roman Catholic, asked employees at an Office Depot location in Schaumburg, Ill., to make 500 copies of “A Prayer for Planned Parenthood”, the Associated Press reported.

The prayer was composed by the Rev. Frank Pavone, national director of the anti-abortion group Priest for Life. It calls on God to “Bring an end to the killing of children in the womb, and bring an end to the sale of their body parts. Bring conversion to all who do this, and enlightenment to all who advocate it.”

The prayer also includes statistics about abortion in the U.S. and decries “the evil that has been exposed in Planned Parenthood and in the entire abortion industry.”

Company spokeswoman Karen Denning tells the Chicago Tribune that Office Depot prohibits the copying of material that advocates “the persecution of certain groups of people,” among other criteria. She says the flier “contained material that advocates the persecution of people who support abortion rights.”

“I am proud of Maria Goldstein for standing up for her rights, and I call upon Office Depot to reconsider this decision by evaluating more carefully the words of the prayer and the intent of its author,” Pavone said.

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